Unraveling the pivotal role of ALIX in MVB sorting and silencing of activated EGFR.

ESCRT-III mediated membrane invagination and scission is a critical step in MVB sorting of ubiquitinated membrane receptors and generally thought to be required for degradation of these receptors in lysosomes. The adaptor protein ALIX is critically involved in multiple ESCRT-III-mediated membrane remodeling processes in mammalian cells. However, ALIX knockdown does not inhibit degradation of activated EGFR in mammalian cell lines, leading to a widely held notion that ALIX is not critically involved in MVB sorting of ubiquitinated membrane receptors in mammalian cells. In this study, we demonstrate that despite its non-essential roles in degradation of activated EGFR, ALIX plays a critical role in MVB sorting and silencing of activated EGFR. EGF stimulation of mammalian cell lines induces ALIX interaction with ubiquitinated EGFR through the ALIX V domain and increases ALIX association with membrane-bound CHMP4 through the ALIX Bro1 domain. Under both continuous and pulse-chase EGF stimulation conditions, inhibition of ALIX interaction with membrane-bound CHMP4, inhibition of ALIX dimerization through the V domain or ALIX knockdown dramatically inhibits MVB sorting of activated EGFR and promotes sustained activation of ERK1/2. Under the continuous EGF stimulation conditions, these cell treatments also retard degradation of activated EGFR. These findings indicate that ALIX is critically involved in MVB sorting of ubiquitinated membrane receptors in mammalian cells.